Page 20 of All We Carry Home

My stomach quivered nervously at that, but I didn’t allow my face or body to flinch. I needed to keep him happy and engaged in the process. Besides, if he was here and saw Phantom’s steady progress, I’d have more time and opportunities to convince him to enter Phantom into local shows and, eventually, the national-level competition.

“I’d figured you for a career Army man.” I brushed a stray lock of hair from my face. “What are your plans after we get Phantom onto the national show circuit?”

He chuckled, admiring more of the trophies stashed all over the kitchen. “I have some plans taking shape.”

I recognized dodging a subject, but I wasn’t one to judge, so I didn’t push it. “While you’re in town, I’d recommend the Geiser Grand on Main. Betty Harrison will make sure you’re taken care of.”

“I appreciate that.” He smiled. “Eddie Moore mentioned the same hotel, and I’m meeting him there for dinner later tonight. Perhaps you would like to join us?”

“Thank you,” I said with a warm smile back. “But my only dress is dirty, and besides, I have a date with Phantom.”

He looked slightly disappointed, though he nodded politely.

I rifled through my bag and pulled out a few extra gauzes and wraps. “You should change your bandage daily. I’ll remove the stitches in a week.”

He took the bundle from me and then followed me out of the house and toward the front pasture, where Phantom trotted along the fence line.

“What is your plan?” Warren asked.

Butterflies danced in my stomach as I remembered the dozens of times Gramps had cured a skittish horse using a simple but effective method.

“A bucket of water.”

Warren

“A bucket of water?” I repeated.

Sure, the horse needed water. But part of her training plan?

Eva grabbed a bucket, filled it at a pump next to the porch, and walked over to the pasture, where Phantom watched her with wild eyes. She went to the fence, but I kept my distance. I couldn’t intervene. I needed to feel reassured that she had control.

Phantom raced up, bared his teeth, and then bolted away. She climbed through the wooden panels of the fence and stood there peacefully with the bucket of water in hand. The horse cantered in circles, came close, and tried to nip her, then raced off. At one point, he sniffed the bucket but didn’t venture close enough to take a drink.

I realized what she was doing. There was no other source of moisture in the entire pen—no blade of grass, not even a puddle on the ground. In the high desert, it might not rain for weeks. The horse needed to drink from the bucket in her hands if he wanted to survive.

Could Phantom understand this? At least I knew she’d never risk his health.

Phantom ran past Eva another half dozen times, biting at her each time and narrowly missing. I clenched my fists to keep from vaulting into the pen to drag her out. This felt hopeless.

But the longer I watched, the more I noticed. She was calm and confident, walking toward him without cowering. I hadn’t seen any other trainer move the way she did. Others had jumped in fear or puffed up their chests and tried to overpower the horse. Eva moved with the horse, not against him. It was a dance.

“The other trainers seemed to favor force,” I said.

“Breaking horses just gives you broken horses.” She glanced at me. “That’s what Gramps said.”

Confidence rose in me. Perhaps I had found the right place for Phantom.

Thirty minutes later, the colt took a step closer and brushed his lips against the water for a split second. My breath caught, and not even the wind seemed to stir before the horse took a deep drink and then ran off, nearly striking Eva with his back hooves.

Relief flooded my chest as she stepped out of the pasture, bringing the bucket with her. She set it down outside the fence and beyond the horse’s reach and wiped her brow. Her black dress was now tinted with red dust, and her shoes were caked in dirt, her face flushed from the direct sun.

“We’ll be the best of friends in no time,” she said with a chuckle.

“How often will you do that?” I motioned to the bucket.

“Six or seven times a day until we’re on sturdier ground.”

Fear pricked at the back of my mind at the danger she’d face each time. I had to trust her and her family’s methods. “That’s quite the dedication.”